Jeremy Hunt has been compared to Mr Bean for a bizarre video where he explains how inflation works - using coffee cups.
New figures today show UK inflation dipped to 10.5% as fuel prices fell but the cost of living remains at a near 40-year high.
The Chancellor used a two-minute clip to breezily explain why costs are rising using paper cups while waiting for a flat white coffee to be brewed.
In the video, he held up a cup marked £2.56 and said that a coffee cost "around £2.50" a year ago, before holding up another with £2.86 on it, which he described as "nearly £3 a cup".
Accompanied by gentle classical music, the top Tory then held up cups with "Covid", "Ukraine" and "Energy" to blame for sky-high inflation.
But critics said he had airbrushed out the damage caused by Liz Truss's disastrous mini-Budget, which trashed the economy and sent mortgage prices spiralling.
A Labour source said: "The Chancellor's "not me guv" explainer misses out the fundamental fact that the British public have been so exposed to economic shocks and the energy crisis because of 13 years of Tory failure and his party’s chaos crashing the economy.
"This is about more than the price of coffee - it's about people's mortgages and energy bills going through the roof, their fears for the future, and the government having no plan to address it."
Labour MP Karl Turner told Mr Hunt: "You don’t mention Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng crashing the economy causing circa 70 BILLION extra borrowings?
"Remember that Jeremy Hunt, it was only few months ago? You cheered them from back benches."
Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesperson Sarah Olney said: “The last thing families need right now is a Mr Bean-esque video from the same clueless party that crashed the economy and sent mortgage bills spiralling.
“What’s even more shocking is that Jeremy Hurt airbrushed one of the main causes of economic pain - Liz Truss ' disastrous mini-budget that resulted in the biggest tax hike for a generation.
"How is that supposed to help Britain with inflation?"
Politics professor Tim Bale, from Queen Mary University of London, said the video is "a classic of the genre".
He tweeted: "I especially loved last year's cup of coffee, costing £2.56, being described 'as around £2.50' as opposed to this year's, costing £2.86, being described as 'nearly £3.00'. (PS while I'm on, 'Peoples Priorities' is missing an apostrophe)."
A SNP spokesman said: "Households in Scotland are lucky if they are able to turn the heating on to keep warm, never mind buy a coffee, all because of the economic incompetence of this UK Tory Government.
"Jeremy Hunt failed to address the massive elephant in the room which is the lasting damage Brexit has done to the UK economy, with exports from Scotland dropping by £2 billion since we were dragged out of the EU."
Reacting to the inflation figures earlier, Mr Hunt said: "High inflation is a nightmare for family budgets, destroys business investment and leads to strike action, so however tough, we need to stick to our plan to bring it down.
"While any fall in inflation is welcome, we have a plan to go further and halve inflation this year, reduce debt and grow the economy - but it is vital that we take the difficult decisions needed and see the plan through."
It comes amid reports the Chancellor is plotting a 'slimmed down' Budget in March - with no immediate tax cuts.
Mr Hunt was tasked with repairing the damage caused by ex-PM Liz Truss and her Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng, who were dramatically ousted from power in October.
A Treasury source told the Guardian: “We don’t have enough headroom to announce tax cuts at this point.
“It wouldn’t be responsible. Our focus is wholly on steadying the economy and, with that, repairing our economic reputation.”
